Movie Reviews & Interviews from Washington

‘Finding Nemo 3D’ Review: Pixar’s Classic Still Looks Amazing

“Finding Nemo” could be Pixar’s most enchanting film ever made. It brings us an amazing story of love and adventure, it’s colorful and has fantastic voice performances, especially from Alberts Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres.

Director and screenwriter Andrew Stanton (“Wall-E,” “John Carter“) and voice talent, Brooks and DeGeneres, are signed on for the sequel set to be released in 2016, so it’s no surprise we are seeing the animated Disney film come back to theatres, this time converted into 3D.

Disney isn’t new to renovating their old classics. Last September, “The Lion King 3D,” racked up $94 million at the box office and when “Beauty and the Beast 3D” was released this past January, it made about half of that. With numbers like that, “Nemo” looks

“Finding Nemo” is a delightful story about a father, Marlin (voiced by Brooks) and his son Nemo, (voiced by Alexander Gould). Nemo is a clown-fish and was born with a defective fin, therefore making his father extra cautious and protective of him. During his first day of school, Nemo goes to the “drop-off” and swims out to open sea, where he gets taken by a scuba diver. Marlin swims after the boat, determined to find his son, when he runs into Dory, a blue tang fish (voiced by DeGeneres) who suffers from short-term memory loss. The two venture out together to find Nemo, meeting up with sharks, sea turtles, jellyfish and pelicans along the way.

Marlin and Dory among other friends.

The sound quality and visuals are surely enhanced, especially during the scenes where Marlin is riding along the East Australian Current with the 150-year-old sea turtle, Crush (voiced by Stanton). But I will say the 3D isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. We have several opportunities to experience amazing depth perception here, especially when half of the movie consists of Marlin and Dory swimming in deep ocean territory. It didn’t feel much different watching the film with 3D glasses on, from the first time I saw it in theatres. Pixar’s most recent film “Brave,” was far from their best, but it’s use of 3D and depth perception is superior to “Nemo.”

If you’re a fan of the bright Pixar classic, it will be worth your while to revisit it in theatres; but if you are going to experience “the 3D picture,” wait to rent it when it comes to Blu-ray December 4, 2012.